The Unofficial SMART Scholarship Forum

It also depends if your particular SF does the GS scale or a form a pay-banding
http://www.dodfire.com/pay/NSPS_2008_SCH.pdf

My facility has PhD's starting at the "Professional" pay band 3, the range changes on a yearly rate depending upon your performance in the previous year.

It is my understanding that the salary pay breaks down as following: *BOY- beginning of year
Degree---Starting--- BOY2-----BOY3---BOY4
BS-----------GS-7------GS9-------GS11-----GS12
MS-----------GS9-------GS11------GS12-----Performance and Job Based after that but each yr you'll gain a step. so you generally start off as GSx step 1. The next year, I believe, you get step 2. It's not a linear progression though. after a few steps it starts taking multiple years to make the next step. Steps go up to 10.
GS12 step1 pay with no special locality bonus pays around 68000yr. Also, 70% of health care is payed which is roughly 5k-7k for someone married with kids. Probably about 1-3k for somebody single.

Government work is generally a bit underpaid compared to the private sector but usually that is somewhat compensated by benefits and per diems if you have to travel a lot with your job.

Finally, for EE's I believe the average starting salary with a BS is 59k which I also believe is one of the highest in the nation. Also, I think after two to three years, it would most likely be around 65 to 75k.

In general, DoD labs have excellent reputations. Just start looking them up and you'll see what I'm talking about. Also, to put things in perspective for you, I've never heard of Sandia National Labs before but I've heard of several of the SMART SFs.

I'm an aerospace engineering student working on an MS. A bunch of my friends just graduated with BS degrees and are getting jobs in the $60k-$70k range in the commercial sector. I've heard that an MS can add a $10k bump to your starting salary. That should give you a ballpark range.

Finally, your last comment bothered me. The point of this scholarship is the service agreement. The government wants more scientists and engineers working in their facilities, so they put together this huge incentive to get us interested. Some think of it as the ultimate starting bonus. At any rate, if you are bothered by the notion that they aren't just going to fund your college degree and then some without asking anything in return, then you need to reconsider whether you want this scholarship.

Do any of the SMART sponsoring facilities have a prestegious repution to compare with DOE labs like Sandia National Labs etc? Also, what can a mechanical or aerospace engineer expect to be paid fresh out of school with an MS in this DOD program? It is bothersome that you must sign up for a service agreement.